With the country aiming to reduce waste reaching landfill by 75 per cent by 2021, officials are urging the public to correctly allocate their waste in the right containers.

While the government has been investing in smart waste segregation and collection systems, residents must do their part in recycling through correctly using the public containers dedicated for general waste and recyclable materials (paper, glass, cans, plastic, etc).

Abdulmajeed Saifaie, director of the waste management department at the Dubai Municipality, said when waste is properly segregated at source, it helps waste collection companies to recover recyclable materials.

“A vehicle picks up the general waste daily, while a different vehicle picks up recyclable materials every few days,” said Saifaie. “While waste collection companies send one truck to pick up the general waste to avoid extra costs, the waste in green and blue bins – for recyclables vs general waste – is segregated at the offloading location before going to landfills.”

Saifaie added that when residents segregate their waste in the right container, it guides companies to separate recyclables in a quicker and cheaper manner.

While Waste to Energy techniques have been widely followed across the world, Saifaie said the waste collected is either recycled or burned to produce energy.

“When the waste is mixed, it is burned to generate energy. Otherwise, it is segregated and recycled.” Currently, little of the waste is burnt and the rate of municipal waste recycling has been rapidly rising. More